Prime Rib!!!

or any kind of roast beastie . . .

Who doesn't love prime rib?  I remember the first time that I ordered it.  I was out to dinner at the 5 Crowns with my Winter Formal date during my Junior year of High School.  I don't remember how we got there because I don't think I was driving yet.  I ordered the prime rib because it was the house specialty and as the waitress left I asked my date if that was wise because ribs can be messy and I was in a rented tux.  She laughed at me and told me that prime rib wasn't ribs.  I learned two things at that meal; that I wasn't as sophisticated as I thought and that prime rib is the most delicious steak in the world.

To that end I will share my patented roast method as well as the accompanying recipes for mashed taters, baked asparagus, and Yorkshire pudding.  This blog entry will cover the roast and the timing for the meal.  The other recipes will be their own posts for archival reasons.

Philosophy:
Roast beast is a personal thing.  Let's start with what we can agree on.  Beef should be medium rare.  This makes the most people happy and those that want their cow a little more done can simply cook their steak/slice a little more.  Pork should be a little more done, but still a bit pink (and juicy) in the middle.  This is an internal temp of 130F to 135F.  I pull my beef roast at a center temp of 125F and rest it for 10 min.  Pork comes out after 140F.  If you are squeamish, pull it at 145F.

Roasts should have a crust on the outside but immediately move to med rare as you move toward the center.  The crust doesn't need to be a crunchy shell, just a clearly caramelized and spice-laden bit of deliciousness.

Doneness is not determined by time, but by internal temperature.

The fat cap should be left on in order to baste the meat and provide valuable pan drippings for gravy, au jus, or use in Yorkshire pud.

To that end:
I set the roast out 2 hrs before it goes in the oven and season it 1 hr before.  I place the temperature probe into the dead center of the roast.  I preheat to 450F and put the roast in for 15 to 20 minutes (depending on size) to brown the outside and kick start the cooking process.  The 7 pounder in the pictures got the full 20 minutes.  I turn down the oven to 200F to 250F and slowly cook it to 125F internal temp.  I pull the roast and let it rest for 10 minutes before cutting/serving on warmed plates with hot au jus.

Why such a short rest and small increase in temperature during the rest?  Cuz this thing is cooking at such a low temperature that juices don't need to redistribute.

I will give you a system for predicting how long this will take so that you can coordinate your sides and such.  But I warn you.  Don't schedule mealtime too narrowly.  This process can sometimes take longer or shorter based on a ton of variables.  Any attempt to rush doesn't honor the noble beast who will be feeding you.

Enough with the talk. Let's roast!

You'll need:

• A standing rib roast (boneless or boned with the bones removed and tied back on)
• Seasoning mix of your choice (I use Linberg-Sniders seasoning)
• A couple sprigs each of rosemary and thyme.
• A thermometer with probe on a long, heat resistant cable.
• A roasting pan with rack (a boned roast could use the bones for a rack)

Remove the roast from the fridge, place in your roasting pan and tent with foil.  Go away for an hour.

Remove the foil and season liberally with the seasoning on all sides. Re-cover with foil. Go away for an hour.

Preheat to 450F and as the oven is coming to temp place the sprigs of rosemary and thyme on top of the roast.

Put the roast in the oven (uncovered) for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, turn the temp down to 225F.  Don't open the door or anything.

After another hour take note of the internal temperature of the roast. This is your starting temperature for calculations. Start a stopwatch or take note of the time.

Watch the temp gauge for a change of 1F and note how long that took.  Divide the 1 degree by the time it took. This is your preliminary rate of cooking.  Do this a couple more times and see if the numbers are consistent.

You can use this to predict when the cooking will be over.  Simply Divide the number of degrees F that are left to go by your rate and the answer is the number of minutes that are left.  Only that isn't correct because as the roast gets closer to the oven's temp, the process slows down.  So multiply the number of minutes to go by 2 early in the going (up to 70F), 1.5 for the middle (70-110F), and 1.0 near the end..  This is a totally science approved way to determine the time 'til the roast comes out.  Around the lab we call that a WAG which stands for Wild Ass Guess.  When you ask a Physicist for a WAG you will get a rough calculation combined with a fudge factor ... usually followed by "Don't quote me on that."

Once you get above 110F you don't need the 1.5 factor anymore.

When the desired temperature is reached, remove the roasting pan from the oven and then remove the roast from the pan and wrap it in foil.  Carve in 10 to 15 minutes.  During this time you will be making gravy or whatever from the pan drippings and getting your sides onto the table.  The rest period can be shortened if needed.

Thin end was a bit more done...

and the thick end is perfect med-rare.

Pro Tip: Put your serving plates in the still warm oven during the rest period.

Pro Tip:  Carve steaks that are an inch thick or just under, or use geometry to carve your roast up for the number of folks present.  In other words, give them less rather than more meat.  Folks can always go back for more but you don't want the chef's portion to be meager because you were too generous whilst carving.

Timing the meal

The hardest thing about putting together a meal is getting everything to be done at the same time.  This is even harder with roast because you don't really know when it will be done.  The trick is to pick sides that can be cooked quickly (during the rest) or can be kept warm for a long time.

To that end, I chose mashed potatoes and asparagus.  The Yorkshire puddings made the thing a bit more complex, but I have two ovens and used that to my advantage.

I made the mashers 30 minutes before the roast came out and kept them in a 200F oven.  This means that I started the boil an hour before the roast was done.  Mashed taters hold their heat well and so I removed them to the table 10 minutes before the roast came out (20 minutes before serving).  They were still warm when we ate.

The asparagus cooks in 5-7 minutes which means that you can put them in and then start carving.  By the time you finish cutting and serving 6 or so steaks the asparagus are ready to plate and bring to the table.

This leaves the Yorkshire puddings.  They take 20 minutes.  15 is cook time and the other 5 is preheating the oil and portioning the batter.  This has to start 10 minutes before the roast come out.  I was able to use my lower oven as the 200F oven and the upper one as the 450F one.  If you only have one oven I would recommend that you make these first (like 4 hours earlier) and reheat them.